Ironman Training Week 16 – Less than 3 Months til IM CdA!

Wow 16 weeks! This week we officially crossed into the Sub-3 Month window for the Ironman. What does this mean? After my nice easy week following the Half Ironman, I will be entering beast mode. I am scared of my training schedule. I have been trying to focus on the present and not the future and have been avoiding looking at the training weeks in April and May but I did take a look this week and it wasn’t pretty people!

As I mentioned in my previous post, I got a bit stressed out this week. Thank you to everyone who reassured me that I am not alone and that it is definitely a part of Ironman training that everyone goes through and it will pass. I’m happy to report that it did pass (for now that is) and I’m pretty excited to be so close to toeing the start line of my first Half Ironman in 6 short days.

All right, on to the week. The goal of this week was to maintain my week day volume/frequency but decrease weekend volume in preparation for the race next Saturday. Here’s how it went down:

Monday: Usually Mondays are a bit of a drag due to the high volume weekend. However, since we got a lot of rest the prior week, we got up for Masters Swim in the morning. The workout was a really good one and definitely pushed me to work hard. In the end, we completed 3,500 yards of swimming. After work we got on the trainers for 60 minutes of spinning . This was definitely a recovery workout – my watts were super low and I lacked motivation to get them up. I was sore from yoga on Sunday but I really think the culprit was our killer 3.5 hour indoor cycling session on Saturday. Mike only made it halfway through the workout and hopped off. Oof. I made sure to foam roll and stretch well after this workout.

Tuesday: Started the morning with another 60 minutes of spinning on the trainer. My watts were slightly higher than the night before but definitely not record-setting. Energy wasn’t at its highest. After work, I felt much better and went out for a run. I had to go to LA on Sunday so I knew I would have to try to squeeze in my long run at some point that day. I figured that if I was feeling good I’d turn my 6 mile run into a longer one. I was feeling good so I kept running and ended up running 8.3 miles , 6 of which were at tempo pace (8:15-8:30). The other 2.3 miles were an easy warm-up and cool down at about 9:15 min/miles. After I got back, did Ab Ripper X and more foam rolling and stretching.

Wednesday: I’m on a roll with my Masters Swims! I was in bed early the night before so the 5:30 wake-up call didn’t seem so bad. Mike decided to sleep in so I headed out alone. I got there a few minutes early so I got in a good warm-up before the swim started and I was able to stay for the full swim set. We did 10 x 100s, half at base + 5, half at base and then the main set was a “simulated mile race” which started with 2 x 100 at base -5 , then 3 x 100 at base, followed by 2 x 300 at base + 5 and then concluded with 3 x 100 at base and 2 x 100 at base -5. By the end I was definitely tired! We finished the whole thing with a 4 x 150 easy effort pull set for a total of 3,800 yards. I really focused on my bi-lateral breathing during this workout, especially on the base + 5 sets, since Oceanside 70.3 buoys are all on the left. After this workout, I was feeling more reassured that come June 24 I will be able to swim the 4,000 meters required.

That night Mike and I had our weekly date night on the trainers while we watched the Biggest Loser. After 90 minutes of spinning, I was disappointed to see a pretty mediocre average watts yet again. Again, watts were not high. Mike was also still feeling a bit weak so we both decided in advance to definitely skip our Sufferfest workout for Thursday and we’d decide in the morning if we wanted to sleep in or do an easy spin instead. This was also the night of the aforementioned “breakdown” so it’s not hard to predict what happened the next morning.

Thursday:

After sleeping in and skipping the morning workout, I already felt better. And 75 minutes of yoga at lunch also helped! Then, after work I headed out for a 5 mile run which I kept at an easy pace. I was happy to see that my easy pace still turned out to be in the high 8 minute mile range.

Friday:

Restday

Saturday:

We got back on the road for some hills on Saturday, completing 50 miles. We rode our normal 44 mile route and added on a flat 6 mile out and back in the middle. I have to say this was the easiest 50 miles I’ve ever ridden! I kept my effort low and just took it easy. Asia and I chatted for much of the ride and it was really enjoyable! After we got off the bikes we did a 3 mile run.

Sunday:

I had to go up to LA early this morning so I wasn’t able to get in my workout until the evening. Since I already got in my long run on Tuesday, I was relieved to only have a 6 mile run ahead of me on the treadmill. I also got in 15 minutes of ab/core work.

Weekly Totals

Yards Swam: 7,300

Hours Biked door-to-door): 7.5

Miles Run: 22.3

Minutes of Strength/Core: 105

Total Hours: 15

Comments on the Week

Despite some lower watts on the bike on the weekdays, my weekend ride went well and all my runs were fantastic. All four of my runs this week had average mph that started with an 8. I also had two really good swims this week. Although I had planned for an open water swim on Sunday morning but a change of plans made that impossible, I was still glad to get in some solid yardage this week.

Nutrition was also much better this week. I kept it really healthy most of the time and felt good overall about what I put in my body. On Sunday night I made a big pot of this yummy brown rice, quinoa, bean and veggie dish and we ate plenty of salads and brussels sprouts this week!

I’m looking forward to our taper week this week. All workouts will be under an hour and a couple of days I will only have 1 session/day.

How was your week? Any big milestones for your races coming up like my sub-3 month to IM milestone?

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I’m Nicole. I'm a runner, new(ish) mom, Ironman and fitness lover who attempts to live a life of balance as a pizza, beer and coffee lover. I live in a coastal suburb of San Diego and try my best to keep it real here!

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